Live updates: Donald Trump, election news from Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris’ cameo on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” led to the administration’s “equal time” provision, a longstanding broadcast rule that former President Donald Trump capitalized on Sunday.
“Hello our great sports fans,” Trump said at the start of an unusual 60-second video that played during NASCAR post-race coverage on many NBC stations. Trump, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, urged viewers to vote.
Almost as soon as it was confirmed Saturday that Harris would appear on “SNL,” Trump allies raised questions about the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time” rule. Brendan Carr, a Republican who was appointed to the commission by Trump in 2017, wrote on X “this is a clear and blatant attempt to circumvent the FCC’s Equal Time Rule.”
The government is trying to ensure that if a political candidate gets airtime on a broadcast station, the candidate’s opponents can request equal opportunities. News programs are exempt, but entertainment programs like “SNL” are not.
On “SNL,” Harris received about one minute and thirty seconds of airtime “for free,” according to a network filing with the FCC.
“We are two days away from the most important election in the history of our country,” Trump said. “We have to save our country, and it needs to be saved, it is in a very bad state.”
Some of Trump’s comments were highly questionable, including his claim that “we’re going to go into a depression based on what happened,” but the video was not fact-checked.